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Funeral Wedding
(The Alvin Play)
by Emily Schwartz
Directed by Kerstin Broockmann and Jesse Geiger
Produced by Scott Dray and
The Strange Tree Group
At the Athenaeum Theatre
2936 N. Southport
Chicago, IL
Call 312-935-6860, tickets $12 - $15
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM
Sundays at 5 PM
Running time is 2 hours, 30 minutes with intermission
Through June 17, 2006
Another twisted play from the talented, wacky playwright Emily Schwartz
In 2004, I saw Emily Schwartz’s The Dastardly Ficus and Other Comedic Tales of Woe and Misery. I loved her blend of humor with the macabre and her silliness with her richly developed wacky characters. She spins an unpredictable story line that produces mysterious elements within her unique plots. Schwartz is a talented playwright. She’s back again with another weird, funny, yet dark un-romance that is part murder mystery, part psycho sexual repressed people with deliciously disturbing characters.
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Funeral Wedding (The Alvin Play) is a Victorian gothic style dark comedy set in pre World War I America about an oddly dysfunctional family. We meet Alvin (in a terrific performance by Matthew Holzfeind) self-confined in his two room attic space for the last several years. Alvin has emotional problems making him neurotic, emotionally spent and guilt ridden. Holzfeind talks directly to the audience (no fourth wall here) as he connects to us about his life, his family and his problems. Alvin is so empathetic that we quickly like him. His family has a weak father (Ira Amyx), a demanding and overwhelming mother (Jennifer Marschand) and a social climbing sister, Ann (Carol Enoch) who Alvin admits he has lusted after in a dream.
Alvin has a secret he is unable to articulate that renders him dysfunctional and a recluse. He witnessed the murder of two young girls yet he refuses to neither acknowledge nor talk of the event. He is on heavy medication while he struggles with his trauma. Who is the murder?
He fears the family doctor (Les Kruse) and we learn that the evil commanding physician lusts after Alvin as well as his sister Ann. The show takes place in Alvin’s messy bedroom (nice set by Kris Stengrevics) where a mote vaudevillian musician (Scott Cupper) underscores the action with his French horn and the Victorian style posters. A cute touch. Alvin is visited by the ghosts of the two slain girls who haunt him into revealing their fate.
Will Alvin be able to handle the relentless prodding from his sister and father to leave the room and rejoin society? When Ann announces she is going to marry the doctor, Alvin becomes distraught. Without giving away key plot elements, let me state that this play contains many funny moments and clever twists that play out deliciously and unpredictably. Filled with much sexual fantasy and twisted characterizations, Funeral Wedding is refreshingly different in structure and content. I liked the smart use of rhyme to announce the doctor’s alibi. Having Ann also answer him in rhyme was pleasing and intelligent.
The play could use some tightening and some cuts but ultimately delivers a strange, intoxicatingly likable and thoroughly entertaining show. It evokes Edward Gorey, Tim Burton and Charles Addams. Matthew Holzfeind’s performance was amazingly human, funny and compelling. Catch this little gem to discover excellent Chicago store front theatre at its best.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago Podcast
Date Reviewed May 15, 2006
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